http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
FOUR lucky ticketholders struck it rich last weekend, but here's the
real winner of the $295 million Powerball binge: the government.

Powerball is a multi-state numbers racket that would be quashed by the
U.S. Department of Justice if it were privately run. Instead, the state
bureaucrats who run these get-rich-quick schemes are allowed to ban
outside competition - including private slot machines, phone betting,
instant pull tabs, and cardrooms. When it comes to profiting off of the
mathematically-challenged, you see, lawmakers want the booty all for
themselves.

Government-sponsored lottery monopolies in 37 states rake in nearly $40
billion a year. Powerball participants in 21 states and the District of
Columbia get 50 cents on the dollar. The feds lend a helping hand by
cracking down on other threats to the state lottery industry, such as
sweepstakes and Internet gambling. Uncle Sam further rigs the game by
exempting state lottery marketing materials from Federal Trade
Commission regulations that guarantee truth in advertising. So while
government lawyers harass Publisher's Clearinghouse and Phillip Morris
for preying on vulnerable consumers with "addictive" promotions and
products, states are free to mislead the young, old, poor, and
feeble-minded about the benefits of lottery games and the remote odds of
winning.

The states spend an estimated $400 million a year on publicly-sponsored
ads promising players that "everyone is a winner" and that you can "win
every day" with "more prizes" and "better odds." To help ensure that
lottery ads reach their at-risk target audience, state officials
saturate the airwaves around the first of each month. Why? As an
advertising plan for the Ohio Super Lotto explained: "Schedule heavier
media weight during those times of the month where consumer disposable
income peaks. . . . Government benefits, payroll and Social Security
payments are released on the first Tuesday of each calendar month.''

Can you imagine if a tobacco company had a similar marketing plan and
got caught with a memo telling ad execs to time their campaigns in order
to entice welfare recipients and senior citizens?

If this double standard doesn't bother you, then the public lottery's
undermining of core American values -- hard work, patience, sacrifice,
and thrift - should. "I have six kids I have to take care of," Dexter
Waiters, 43, told the Associated Press last week. But instead of earning
his paycheck the honest way, Waiters joined a group of bicyclists who
squandered two hours trekking from New York City's Central Park to
Stamford, Connecticut so they could each buy $5 worth of Powerball
tickets. "Maybe I could quit my job," Waiters mused. If he really felt
like rolling the dice instead of going to work, maybe he should have
just stayed at home and played Yahtzee with his six kids.

Promoters of public lotteries sell their wares as harmless
entertainment. They've convinced taxpayers it's all in good fun - and
"for the children," they claim, since most lottery revenue allegedly
goes to education. But there is no evidence that lotteries boost school
spending. In fact, an investigative report by Money magazine found that
on average, states with lotteries spend a smaller proportion of their
budgets on education than states that do not have a lottery.

Many states "earmark" lottery funds for other pet causes, from economic
development and mass transit to senior citizens' programs, professional
sports stadiums, and environmental protection. But state budgeters know
earmarking is a sham. All government revenue is fungible. Lottery funds
end up supplanting regular income, not supplementing it. As players lose
interest, the states must cut the number of prizes, make longer odds,
inflate the jackpots, and market even more aggresively (and deceptively)
to make more money.

In essence, the lottery is a regressive tax on dreamers and dunces. It
may be "voluntary," but the rest of end up paying, too - in the form of
a bigger and more hypocritical government incurably addicted to shell
games.